THE MONKEY-SEE,MONKEY-DO PRINCIPLE AS APPLIED TO INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL BEHAVIOR AND MISBEHAVIOR
A simplistic argument supporting Darwinism and Reverse Darwinism.
PREMISES: History repeats itself, trends are cyclical, humans evolved from an ancestor that also produced other primales, humans and other primates therefore share some DNA-influenced societal characteristics.
[WARNING: The account name "Babes for McCain was an intended sarcasm campaign. Long story. Ask me if you really want to know.]
U.S. Trade Policies Sponser Terrorism:
We buy enourmous amounts of goods from China, in return China is the largest arms supplier to Burma. Making Burma the 12th largest military in the world. So, we do indeed fund the regime in Burma, we fund their campaigns of genocide against the ethnic Karen in eastern Burma, we fund thier systematic use of mass rape against women and children, we fund forced labor, we fund arbitrary imprisonment.
It was American policy that was the reason China's economy grew at the fastest rate (and still growing) than any other nation in History.
It is not just the US who has ties with the junta in Burma, other democracies, Israel and Australia, also help train Burma's security personnel.
We are all connected and in the words of Vaclav Havel "we Must be reponsible for out actions" - I contend this includes trade policies.
I was idly going through the articles on Truthout this evening, and a NYT piece about the cyclone relief efforts in Burma caught my eye. Apparently, it is the monks who have been able to help the most.
Kun Wan, Myanmar - They paddle for hours on the stormy river, or carry their sick parents on their backs through the mud and rain, traveling for miles to reach the one source of help they can rely on: Buddhist monks.
It seems that the international relief workers have encountered many impediments in the efforts to reach those who need the help most, while the monks, who are already there, can do the most if they have supplies and donations. Luckily, Avaaz.org has set up a way to donate directly to the International Burmese Monks Organization.
Today, I've animated a special all-Hillary version of Scott Bateman's Sketchbook of Secrets & Shame:
And after the cut: a very special animation about Burma's hip hop scene, whose leading stars have all been imprisoned by the hardline government (makes most of our hip hop stars seem like a bunch of posers in comparison)...
About Hillary Clinton's latest statement and have spent the better part of two days talking about it, here's what is going on in the world around you.
The death toll in China from the earthquake has reached over 62,000 people. Does that number shock you? Are you saying, that's last week's story? Has it already left your consciousness?
In Burma, that country is finally allowing workers from all countries to help with the survivors of the cyclone there. 78,000 people have died there and 58,000 people are missing.
Today marks the first of three official days of mourning in China for the victims of the (newly-uprated) 8.0 earthquake in Sichuan. All "public entertainment activities" are suspended, as is the Olympic torch relay.
As the search for survivors has now turned into body recovery and burial, China is fast becoming "old news." More significantly, and more sadly, is that news about the on-going Burmese typhoon tragedy has been "old news" for several days now for the majority of American news outlets. The Sudan? Zimbabwe? Palestine? India? A google search will have to suffice.
We need to take a minute to mourn with those who mourn this day.
I recently wrote about the two aides that were removed for having lobbied on Burma's behalf, along with mentioning snippets of John McCain's other dubious connections to shady foreign entities. Victor Yanukovych and Oleg Deripaska being two. In fact, the Wall Street Journal has also begun to eye McCain's foreign connections.
John McCain isn't alone. His wife's connections to shady foreign governments are now being noticed.
It is interesting to see how unequal world opinion can be and how myopic. In the case of Burma we find the news attacking the regime in power because of a perceived failure to respond to the results of a natural disaster, a cyclone. May voices are raised supporting regime change or a change in the form of government in Burma. Did we hear calls like this of the American government after Katrina?
The Washington Post is rightfully attacking China's refusal to allow international experts into Sichuan to help in relief experts, arguing correctly that such refusal not only endangers its own citizens, but provides ideological shelter for the Burmese Junta's similar approach to Monsoon relief:
Yet China is contributing to the mounting man-made disaster in Burma even as it rescues its own citizens. The communist government has adopted the position that it will welcome international aid for earthquake victims, but not foreign aid workers -- the same xenophobic stance that Burma's military junta has taken...
As if the devastation from Cyclone Nargis on May 3 was not enough. As if the inability of the government to help the victims or allow international aid organizations to feed and shelter the millions in need was not enough. As if the people of Myanmar had not suffered enough death, disease, hunger, thirst, cold, and fear. An estimated 2 million survivors of the storm are still in need of emergency aid. To date, U.N. agencies and other groups have been able to reach only 270,000 people.
Bottlenecks, poor logistics, limited infrastructure and the military government's refusal to allow foreign aid workers have left most of the delta's survivors living in miserable conditions without food or clean water. The government's efforts have been criticized as woefully slow.
The situation is about to get much, much worse. Forecasters are now tracking another tropical low that is expected to become another cyclone and track into the already devastated Irriwaddy delta.
My sister Daphne studied Burmese music in Yangon. She is in touch with teachers and students at the music school Gitameit. They are organizing relief aid. Daphne wrote this:
Small and local aid agencies are best equipped to help the victims of cyclone Nargis because they are already operating on the ground. Donations to these agencies are more effective since big aid organizations are still struggling to access the affected areas. Local relief groups such as the Music School Gitameit, are providing the most urgently needed first-aid supplies.
For two years I lived in Yangon, studying Burmese traditional music and teaching classical flute at the Gitameit Music Center, a private school founded by the American pianist Kit Young in 2003. I returned to Berlin in December 2007 to finish my masters in Musicology and Southeast Asian Studies.
My friends, former colleagues, and students all tell me that Yangon, the old capital, is widely devastated and that the fertile delta of the Irrawaddy River is still flooded.
Britain's Guardian is carrying an interesting piece this evening which shows how angry Chinese are turning on their government after the devastation caused by the recent earthquake. It reported a women, hoping that she will be able to again see her daughter, asking;
"Why isn't there money to build a good school for our kids? Chinese officials are too corrupt and bad."
She went onto say;
"These buildings outside have been here for 20 years and didn't collapse - the school was only 10 years old. They took the money from investment, so they took the lives of hundreds of kids. They have money for prostitutes and second wives but they don't have money for our children. This is not a natural disaster - this is done by humans."
Since the disaster struck, I have been so disgusted and appalled at what is happening in Burma, especially after reading this article that the generals are not just hampering relief, but they are starting to hoard it for themselves. Yes, they are. The little they give to the people they take the precious time to re-label the containers to it looks like it's coming from them. Huh?
One sliver of good news is the EU is threatening that if they do not accept the aid, they could be held accountable for crimes against humanity, of which they are already complicit.
Please, if you are able to help them, here is a link through avaaz.org to send help DIRECTLY to the monks who are doing everything they can, and NOTHING goes throught the government. They are risking their lives to do this.
Today's Daily Flipper - McCain Flips on Environment and Abortion Edition you will read:
If You Don’t Like John McCain’s Environmental Position, Just Wait Five Minutes
McCain Advisor Forced To Resign
Here Comes The Exodus
Another Installment Of McCain 2.0
Read all the detail and take action on the flip. Flip it good.
For more than two months, 3,600 United Auto Workers (UAW) members have walked picket lines in Detroit, Three Rivers, Mich., and upstate New York. The strike at American Axle & Manufacturing (AAM), a major supplier of truck and sport-utility axles for General Motors (GM), is shaping up as a line-in-the-sand campaign for the embattled union.
My heart is on the other side of the world right now.
After all, everyone knows what will happen today in West Virginia, and I'm no longer in the mood for the kabuki theater of a "race" already over.
My thoughts are with the peoples of Burma and China. When I heard about the monsoon in Burma, I knew that the casualties would be high, and that the junta would botch it as badly as they could. I knew that the US and UN would flap their arms about, and yet very little would get accomplished.
And when I heard about the earthquake in Sichuan, I knew again that the suffering would be immense. I knew that, while the Chinese government would doubtless spring to the rescue with its massive army and also accept international aid without hesitation, the endemic corruption, lax oversight, and the relentless drive to develop had already sewn the seeds of death. Unfortunately, this too was true. Pictures of the pancaked buildings, including schools, built in a rush with cheap concrete and a smattering of rebar, meant instant death for tens of thousands.
Read what the Republicans Wish You Wouldn’t 
